SBS has released the first character stills of Yoo Yeon Seok from its upcoming Friday-Saturday drama Phantom Lawyer.
Phantom Lawyer is a quirky yet heartwarming legal drama that follows Shin Yi Rang (Yoo Yeon Seok), a lawyer who can see ghosts, and elite attorney Han Na Hyun (Esom) as they use the law to resolve the lingering grievances of their highly unusual clients—ghosts.
In the newly unveiled stills, Yoo Yeon Seok showcases a wide acting range by portraying Shin Yi Rang both before and after possession, presenting different backstories and emotional tones. Even when dressed in a perfectly tailored suit as a competent lawyer, the character’s innate humanity remains evident.
Another set of images captures Shin Yi Rang looking worn and exhausted as he visits a church to pray, overwhelmed by the ghosts he begins seeing after moving into Room 501 of the Okcheon Building—the place where all the strange events originate.
The contrasting stills hint at a deeper backstory behind the character. Shin Yi Rang grew up in the Seocho neighborhood, spending his childhood there and gradually maturing over the years. As a late-blooming lawyer, he hopes to restart his legal career in Seocho, a place he knows well. However, he repeatedly fails law firm interviews for unexplained reasons, living a life marked by constant rejection.
Despite this, his personality prevents him from ignoring others in need—even stopping to help an elderly street vendor—earning him the label of a “soft-hearted” person from his mother.
Shin Yi Rang’s life takes an unexpected turn after a single decision. Unaware of the office’s past as a shaman’s house, he rents the space, and from the moment he moves in, he begins to see ghosts. Facing events that defy both law and common sense, he finds himself unable to turn away, becoming increasingly entangled in their stories and raising curiosity about the world he is about to enter as a possessed lawyer.
The production team commented, “Shin Yi Rang is not a character with special powers, nor is he a hero from the beginning. It is simply his inability to ignore others’ suffering that ultimately leads his life down a different path.”
They added, “Yoo Yeon Seok has demonstrated remarkable versatility throughout his career, and in this project, he brings Shin Yi Rang to life through his first comedic performance and nuanced, multi-layered possessed acting. Viewers will see a side of Yoo Yeon Seok they have never seen before.”
Phantom Lawyer is scheduled to premiere on March 13 at 9:50 p.m. KST.
